The Lone Ranger, camping in the wilderness with Tonto, was bitten on the penis by a rattlesnake when he squattted near a tree to take a crap."Tonto, quickly, ride into town and ask for help," said the Lone Ranger, writhing in agony.Tonto rode into town and ran into the doctor's office. "Doctor, the Lone Ranger has been bitten by rattlesnake, him need help!"The doctor said, "I can't leave right now, Tonto. Go back to the Lone Ranger and suck the poison out of the wound, then slap tobacco juice on it. He should be ok in a couple of days."Tonto rode back to camp, thinking hard all the while about where the rattlesnake had bitten the Lone Ranger."Tonto, what did the doctor say?" asked the Lone Ranger.Tonto replied, "Doctor say you gonna die, Kemo Sabe."

The blog subject line is a quote from the story. It is, you might notice, a variation on the old standard Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink line that you hear in the military a lot.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Ever heard of Pykrete before? It's old technology that is getting a new look. Basically, it's a mix of wood fibre and ice. Limited use with global warming, though, isn't it? Read the info at the link to find out why it's possibly not.

Wow. That happened during the years I was in the Navy myself. I worked as a Cryptologic Technician, and anything having to do with the US Navy's submarine programs was the most hush-hush of all the classified programs. Even at Cinclantfleet HQ where I worked, only a few of the techs where I worked were cleared to look at certain aspects of the submarine programs.

The great battleship wallows helplessly in heavy seas. It has lost power, its steering gear is shot to pieces and there is even something wrong with its huge guns, which can no longer be trained on the enemy but fire occasional defiant salvoes into empty space. Only its thick iron plating has saved this mighty ship from going to the bottom, but one feels it is only a matter of time and it could be sunk as early as tomorrow morning.

This is the melancholy spectacle presented by Gordon Brown at Prime Minister's questions. No longer does he steam majestically at 30 knots, the terror of all smaller craft.

Instead he is reduced to the miserable expedient of laying down smoke in a vain attempt to hide his position.

Santamaria, who describes himself as a "craftsman chef," specializes in heartier fare than the creations of Nueva Cocina.

The menu of Can Fabes features dishes such as suckling pig served with lobster and lamb with figs, compared to El Bulli offerings like "Rabbit Ear Crunchy" and "Hare juice with apple jelly-cru with black currant marinated gorgonzola shell."

I'm conservative, so I'd probably go with the pig and figs. Rabbit Ear Crunchy sounds like something that would be pre-packaged by a snack company and sold on grocery shelves next to the pork rinds.

This whole name-calling thing is so counterproductive for Democrats. Every time they lose they denigrate those who didn't vote for them as racist, stupid, and all the rest of it. Republicans name-call, too, of course -- we're not fond of the latte-chuggin' tree-huggin' electric-car-pluggin' Jesus-muggin' speech-code-thuggin' effete perverted condescending Eastern liberal establishment faux intellectual Pansy Class -- but Republicans don't need their votes (and never could get them anyway). But Democrats do need rural voters, and could get them, and once in a while do (or at least enough of them to win elections).

Mummies at a museum are being covered up after visitors complained about them being displayed 'naked'. One exhibit, the mummified remains of Asru, a chantress at the Temple of Amun in Karnak, has been seen unwrapped for 120 years.

But now, along with the partially-wrapped male mummy of Khary and a child mummy, it is being covered after calls for more respect and dignity to be shown to the ancient remains at Manchester Museum.

A private archaeological excavation firm has discovered the remains of a 238-year-old shipwrecked Spanish galleon on the coast near the Chilean town of Curepto, located in Chile's Region VII.

According to a report in The Santiago Times, the Spanish galleon, named "Our Lady of the Good Council and San Leopoldo" was discovered by Oriflama S.A, a private archaeological excavation firm.

Most archaeologists expected to find the remains of the ship deep on the ocean floor.

But fragments of the 41-meter x 11-meter ship were discovered embedded in the sand under fairly shallow waters near where the Huenchullami River flows into the ocean.

The once ornate vessel, built by the French in the mid 1700s and, loaded with 56 canons, was used by their military until the ship fell into Spanish hands. The Spaniards then revamped the ship into a merchant vessel and set it sailing to "New Spain."

The ship was carrying precious glassware from the Spanish royal family to be sold to Peru's Spanish royalty. The glassware, along with garments decorated with gold, gold money, fancy furniture and over 50 canons, today have an estimated value of 30 million US dollars.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

It has taken over 400 years but soon the Tower of London is going to get some of its guns back. On May 25, archaeologists will begin work on the recovery of cannon from a sunken Elizabethan ship that went down off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands in 1592.

Oxford, UK (PRWEB) May 20, 2008 -- Great guns on Alderney! It has taken over 400 years but soon the Tower of London is going to get some of its guns back. On May 25, archaeologists will begin work on the recovery of cannon from a sunken Elizabethan ship that went down off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands in 1592. The Duke of York is behind the work that aims to conserve, replicate and test-fire the weapons found on this important wreck.

Excavation director Mensun Bound of St Peter's College, Oxford, says, "We are not just bringing up cannon, but also muskets, grenades, swords, rapiers, body armour and helmets. This was a ship that was supplying an English army fighting in France to prevent a second Armada-style invasion by Spain."

A British owned island in the South Atlantic has been overrun by hundreds of thousands of monster mice which have evolved into carnivores. The mice of Gough Island have grown to two or even three times the size of an ordinary house mouse.

They have developed from eating insects and seeds and are now devouring young birds, including albatross chicks, in huge numbers.

Birds on the island had been used to having no predators and are unable to fend off the mice which attack in groups at night.

Stuart Warrnington said he was "surprised and delighted" to see the beetle during a regular survey of Wicken Fen, a nature reserve in Cambridgeshire owned by the Natural Trust, The Daily Telegraph reported. The beetle had not been recorded there since 1951.

He said the movie would cost "60 million dollars-plus" to make and would start shooting in late spring or early summer.

He said that "The Alchemist", first published 20 years ago, combined elements that should make it appeal to a broad audience -- spirituality, a journey, youth, love and action.

Coelho's novel, which has sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide, tells the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels to Africa in search of his dream and meets the alchemist along the way.

Fishburne, who in a video message said he felt like "the luckiest man on the planet", will play the alchemist as well as direct and help develop the script.

Weinstein said he had read earlier screenplays based on the novel over the years, and "hated every one of them".

There was no news on the rest of the cast, although Weinstein indicated he wanted to give a part to Spanish star Penelope Cruz, who has been in Cannes starring in Woody Allen's popular "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

The producer believed the project could act as "a bridge to the Middle East", and said he was determined the film would be true to the original story.

I hate it already. This book doesn't need a huge budget to be successful, and it doesn't need Laurence Fishburne to play the Magic Negro in it. And Penelope Cruz? "A bridge to the Middle East?"

Saturday, May 17, 2008

I first visited her around 1970, when my paternal grandmother died and we journeyed from Florida to Mississippi to bury her. I was about 9 years old at the time and we stopped at the Alamaba on the trip back. I was smitten with love for this ship; guns everywhere, hiding places galore, something fascinating to see around every corner. Also moored behind the Alabama was a WWII submarine, USS Drum, but I really had no time for her; too small, cramped. My love was given to the big battleship.

I knew before I left her that I wanted nothing more than to be in the US Navy.

Children everywhere love prizes and fuzzy animals, right? The North Dakota shepherding industry is counting on it.

In an unusual move meant to encourage youthful interest in a career field that could perhaps use a little of-the-moment excitement, a state group will be awarding sheep to select teens and ’tweens. They hope to encourage a new generation of shepherds.

Shepherding, always popular among storybook characters and as a religious metaphor, has taken a beating in reality. Nationally, tens of thousands of sheep ranches have disappeared in recent decades. And in mostly rural North Dakota, there are just 840 operations now, a drop of about 1,000 sites tending to lambs, ewes and rams since the late 1980s. Livestock specialists say that fewer people seem to have the patience or expertise to handle flocks, and that there are concerns about the ease of marketing and slaughter.

As the remaining shepherds grow older, industry officials are hoping to entice replacements from elementary and high schools with a “starter flock” program. It will give 10 ewes to children who write winning essays about their interest in the field, who are North Dakota residents from the ages of 10 to 18, and who agree to pay back a part of the profits from their lamb or wool sales to help sustain the initiative. (Rams will be provided for breeding at no charge. Ewes are worth about $150 each.)

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."Advertisement

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

"But now McCain is running for a higher office. He's running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian," Harkin said. "And in some ways, I think it would be nice if that commander in chief had some military background, but I don't know if they need a whole lot."

Umm. Excuse me, Senator Retard? McCain isn't in the Navy anymore. He is a civilian using the legal or any other definition you want to come up with.

Not that it takes rocket science to see the problems. We're prohibited by leftists from utilizing our own untapped oil reserves, they won't let us build new refineries or nuclear power plants.

The Republicans really need to drive this home to the voters in commercials and speeches, but aren't. They need to accuse the Dems of being unpatriotic for allowing lower-income Americans to suffer at the pump to please lobbyists in the environmental movement.

Article goes into detail about the old US Mint facilities in Charlotte, NC, and Dahlonega, GA, which were authorized by President Andrew Jackson and closed at the beginning of the Civil War. These mints pre-dated the California gold rush, and are generally forgotten these days, along with the Carolinas and Georgia gold rushes that caused them to be opened.

The ash isn't inherently toxic, but can temporarily muck up rivers, streams and other waterways. Long-term it is actually good for the soil, improving it, which is why many people continue to grow crops on the slopes of volcanoes.

The Dutch authorities have arrested the cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot (a pseudonym. Nekschot means deathblow, litt: “shot in the back of the neck” [An interview with Nekschot here]). The judicial authorities in Amsterdam said yesterday that the cartoonist was arrested as a suspect for the criminal offense of “publishing cartoons which are discriminating for Muslims and people with dark skin.”

The cartoonist was arrested on Tuesday, while the police searched his house for “discriminating evidence.” His computer, backups, usb sticks, mobile phone and a number of drawings were confiscated. Nekschot was released two days later but it is possible that he will be charged following a complaint in 2005 by the Dutch imam Abdul Jabbar van de Ven, an indigenous Dutchman who converted to Islam.

Nekschot, a friend of the late Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film maker who was ritually slaughtered by a Muslim fanatic in 2004, hides his real identity in order to avoid unnecessary risks. Hans Teeuwen, a Dutch stand-up comedian and friend of Nekschot’s, told the Dutch media yesterday that the police had told Nekschot as they released him earlier that day that “he has now lost his anonymity.” Teeuwen said this was “a rather intimidating remark.”

So they want him outed so he can be killed? Nice.

This Brussels Journal link appears to have good information and examples of Nekschot's work (some of it obscene).

Fortress Monroe in Hampton, VA. A beautiful old masonry fort, still owned by the Army, as far as I know, although it has been targeted for base closing legislation in the past. A lot of history went on there, and a lot of famous people walked and lived there: Edgar Allan Poe, while he was an enlisted soldier; Robert E. Lee, who as an engineer helped survey and build Fort Wool, which is across from Fortress Monroe, on an artificial island next to the entrance of the modern Hampton Tunnel; and Jefferson Davis, who was held captive at Fortress Monroe following the Civil War, and whose lovely meerschaum pipe, carved as an egg grasped in an eagle's claw, is still on exhibit there, or was in 1983 when I last visited.

The fort is fully moated, the moat open to Chesapeake Bay; it is full of jellyfish. The fort has a path all around the top, which also serves as a pet graveyard; lovely views of the area are possible from the path, and lying in the grass atop the casement roofs in the summer is wonderfully pleasant.

There is a "Casemate Museum" that shows much of the history of the area, including the battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, the latter more familiarly known as the Merrimack.

If Obama wins the Presidency, the first man he'll name to the Supreme Court in John Edwards.

Edwards is young and liberal, and has the potential to influence the Court for decades. Some have said that Edwards is more likely to get Attorney General, but I'd bet on the Supreme Court, given Edwards' ego.

"So as we mark 60 years from Israel's founding, let us try to envision the region 60 years from now," said Bush, whose popularity at home has been hurt by an unpopular war in Iraq.

"Israel will be celebrating its 120th anniversary as one of the world's greatest democracies", he said, and "the Palestinian people will have a homeland, a democratic state that is governed by law, respects human rights and rejects terror".

Bush said that "from Cairo to Riyadh to Baghdad and Beirut, people will live in free and independent societies". Iran and Syria "will be peaceful nations, where today's oppression is a distant memory".

Al Qaeda, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas "will be defeated, as Muslims across the region recognize the emptiness of the terrorists' vision", Bush predicted.

And this, about the survival of Israel as a nation:

At Masada, a cable car carried Bush up the towering plateau where 960 Jewish men, women and children committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman legions crushing a rebellion in ancient Judea, in an act chronicled by a 1st-century historian.

Bush, on a three-day visit to celebrate Israel's founding, and Olmert viewed ruins including a water collection system that sustained besieged Jewish zealots at the sanctuary.

"At this historic site, Israeli soldiers swear an oath: 'Masada shall never fall again.' Citizens of Israel: Masada shall never fall again, and America will be at your side," Bush later told the Knesset, to a standing ovation.

It's often said that President Bush is a buffoon and incapable of eloquence. Could've fooled me.

I recently discovered references to Walter Russell Meade's work on The Smallest Minority blog, and did a little research, coming up with this and this which gave me an introduction to Meade's work. Once I did, Barack Obama's worst problem became evident: Jacksonian Americans won't vote for him. And there's a lot of us out there (I'm a Jacksonian).

Colorblind said Glover, who co-starred in the "Lethal Weapon" buddy-cop action flicks, will play an integral role in the future development of "Sharq Warriors," a videogame franchise featuring "Sami," the first modern Arab action hero.

Colourblind said Riz Khan, a show host at Al Jazeera English and former journalist with the BBC and CNN, is also working on the project.

"Many existing games feature Western soldiers shooting Arabs, Afghans and other ethnic 'enemies,' as well as bad guys who are consistently of African descent, Latino, Arab or Muslim in general," Khan noted. "We think that only reinforces negative stereotypes. We're introducing different types of heroes and 'Sami' is the first of them but he fights corruption, not people of another race."

Sorry, I don't think Sami of Sharq Warriors is going to be as PC as all that. I'll bet there's going to be some joo-shooting in there somewhere, at least if they expect to sell the thing.

And what sort of role is Glover going to take in this? We all know he's a Castro-fellating leftist tool, is he going to be sucking circumcised jihadi tube steak now, too?

At one of the hotels I worked at, we had a security guard that had a form like this. He had it ruled into two column, titled Duties Of A Christian Wife and Responsibilities Of A Christian Husband, and he had checkmarks where he had observed proper marital behavior.

Prosecutors have summoned the director, Yuri V. Samodurov, to a hearing on Tuesday during which he will be charged for his role in organizing “Forbidden Art — 2006,” a March 2007 exhibition at the Andrei Sakharov Museum in Moscow, according to a subpoena delivered to Mr. Samodurov last week. The subpoena was then faxed to The New York Times.

The charges stem from an investigation that began shortly after the exhibition opened into whether Mr. Samodurov had incited religious hatred by displaying pornography-infused artworks, some of which mocked the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Soviet government repressed both the Orthodox Church and nonconformist artists. In recent years, however, the church, which the Kremlin now honors, has often sought to punish what it sees as opponents and critics. The police frequently act at church officials’ behest.

In January 2003, a group of men raided Mr. Samodurov’s museum, defacing many of the 45 works in another exhibition critical of the Orthodox Church called “Caution, Religion!” While charges against most of the men were dropped for a lack of evidence, Mr. Samodurov was convicted of inciting religious hatred.

Authorities say two women have died after a cement truck crashed into their car and partially filled it with cement. S.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Paul Brouthers said that the women were in the front seat of a Honda that abruptly changed lanes in front of the cement truck on Interstate 26 Monday afternoon.

He said the truck couldn't stop and crashed into the Honda, landing on top of the car.Pete Rogers of the Charleston Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad says cement started to fill the car and it took 20 rescuers to dig out the women, who then had to be cut from the car.

The courtesy computer at work has been reconfigured with some program called "site kiosk" that severely limits access to computer functions. I've been using Mozilla Firefox in the past to work there, now I'm forced onto a custom version of Internet Explorer that doesn't even feature tabbed browsing or the ability to open a new window. I may have to bring a Puppy Linux CD-Rom and a USB key so that I don't have to put up with this silliness.

“Pilots have many responsibilities during a mission, maintaining their sights, monitoring fuel, navigating the aircraft and monitoring their weapons systems — and they gotta go so bad they can hardly think,” said Mark Harvie, president of Omni Medical Inc. “This takes care of that problem for them,” he said.

The system, called the Advanced Mission Extender Device, uses special underwear equipped with a hose linked to a pump the size of a paperback book that drains urine into a collection bag.

The men’s model uses a pouch; the women’s has something that resembles a sanitary napkin.

For pilots, the difficulty in answering nature’s call is as old as flying itself.

Over the decades, pilots have used bottles and bags — or just held it in. Many avoid liquids, or make sure their last stop before climbing into the cockpit is a bathroom.

At least twice, F-16s have crashed as their pilots tried to pee.

In 1992, one crashed in Turkey after a belt buckle got wedged between the seat and the control stick. After that, the Air Force changed the recommended procedure, urging pilots not to unbuckle completely.

Some pilots do permanent damage to their bladders by holding it in for hours at a time, which can cause incontinence and other problems later in life.

The push for a better system began in earnest after female pilots started flying fighters in 1993, Harvie said. In 2000, the Pentagon sent out a request for proposals for what might best be described as midair defueling systems.

Harvie answered it.

“I read it over with a couple of my people and we sort of snickered, and said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding, they must have a solution for this. They’ve been flying airplanes since the early 1900s,’” he said.

But they didn’t.

He applied for a research grant and built a prototype. Omni, which started out as a five-person operation, is now 44 people working out of a building in an industrial park. Over the years, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., helped the Air Force get $3.3 million for Omni to develop the system.

Vice Adm. John Stufflebeem seemed to have it all. He rose from deck seaman to a Naval Academy football star whose punting prowess earned him the nickname “Boomer” and a part-time practice gig with the Detroit Lions.

He opted to fly jets instead, logging more than 4,000 hours in several different aircraft, won plum assignments and became a Navy star. As a commander, Stufflebeem was a military aide to President George H.W. Bush, and after rising to flag rank, was the public face of the Afghanistan war as he briefed reporters from the podium at the Pentagon while serving as deputy director of global operations on the Joint Staff.

He went on to command 6th Fleet and, last year, became director of the Navy Staff. A fourth star was all but assured.

And then it all began to unravel.

In January, an anonymous letter revealed an 18-year-old secret that Stufflebeem thought was long buried and forgotten. The letter accused Stufflebeem of carrying on an eight-month affair with a female State Department staffer while the two were assigned to the White House in 1990.

Unlike the US Senate at Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, the US Navy takes crap like this seriously. Admiral Stufflebeem's career is over, and he has put in for retirement.

People are getting better informed about emergency situations like this. It's a technique found in books, magazines, and on TV shows. Good, practical knowledge. And cudos to the female lifeguard who went into the water without hesitation to render assistance.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

When it comes time for Barack Obama to pick a running mate, I wonder if the MSM will harp about his needing to pick someone with gravitas to balance out his own youth and inexperience? I'm willing to bet that gravitas will hardly be mentioned at all, that Obama will be put forward as having the necesary gravitas inherently, a sort of mystical gift from heaven.

You're endangering the public, guys, as well as your fellow players and coaches. There are thousands of varieties of wood in the world, do experiments and find one that isn't brittle. Experiment with plywood and stabilized woods, too. Plywood would require changes to the rules of baseball, stabilized woods (even stabilized maple, which might solve the brittleness problem) probably wouldn't.

In the earliest days of baseball, players would carve their own bats, even. Who knows what sort of woods were used back then? Hickory, oak, Osage Orange? Try Apple. There's a world of wood out there to try.

The Jihad Press article, the equivalent of an op-ed column, names a few areas that al-Qaida considers “of supreme strategic importance in the campaign to expel the enemy:” the Red Sea, Yemen’s Gulf of Aden and the Bab Al-Mandeb strait, “the gate of tears,” which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.

The Jihad Press column cites the October 2000 attack on the destroyer Cole, which killed 17 sailors; and the 2002 attack on the French oil tanker Limburg — both in Yemeni waters — as proof that Islamist fighters can have an effect at sea.

It probably wouldn't be as easy to hit a US Navy target this time, they're much more aware of the threats involved and better prepared to face them, as evidenced in recent incidents in the area where USN-flagged ships fired on small boats.

The Stars and Stripes newspaper has three articles today on relations between the US military and the populace of Okinawa, and the influence that the Okinawan media has in fomenting calls for the military to leave the island.

Basically, the Okinawa papers have been giving heavy emphasis to crimes committed by US military members, even though they commit fewer crimes per capita than the civilian population of Okinawa.

Personally, I'm an old-fashioned isolationist; were I President, I'd close all foreign bases, reduce the US military by two thirds, use the savings to pay for US infrastructure, security and a reinforced southern border. Let Europe deal with Russian and the Muslim immigration problem on their own. Guarantee the security of Israel and Taiwan until such time as they no longer require it.

And if Europe embroils itself in another world war? Fuck 'em. I'm tired of the US being treated like shit after all we've sacrificed for those useless people.

John Stevenson, of Glasgow, prompted serious rescue efforts Wednesday when his small dinghy tuned over in the rough waters of Loch Ryan on the Galloway coast, the Scotsman reported Friday.

Apparently his little toy boat floated out to sea and he was just trying to retrieve it. This is one of those stories that you smile about, since it didn't end in tragedy. I can picture the old guy at the pub, wrapped in a blanket, drinking some mulled ale and telling his story over and over again, with the tale growing more ridiculous each time.

But when she saw a group of youths kicking a ball near her treasured blooms Alma Harding decided on more immediate action.

The 63-year-old retired postmistress marched over and ordered them to go to playing fields nearby.

She says she was met with a volley of foul-mouthed abuse, so clutching a roll of parish council minutes, she swiped at a member of the group.

Now Mrs Harding is facing a police inquiry into alleged assault.

Mrs Harding insists she was trying to stop anti-social behaviour next to the village's war memorial in an area where the parish council is planning to put up a sign to stop football being played.

She said: "They were damaging the flowers. I told them to go to the nearby playing fields and asked them when they were going to grow up.

"They were really loud-mouthed and rude to me and I was close enough to get in with a few pieces of paper I was carrying. I have done nothing wrong. It would not have hurt the boy. It was only rolled up paper and I am a little old lady.

"They were damaging my property because I have loaned the hanging baskets. We don't get any funding for flowers, only donations to help and it costs a fortune."

The boy's mother complained to police that her son has been slapped across the face.

"My child had been assaulted," she said. "It is not acceptable for a stranger to go up to a child and hit them.

"If he had hit her, he would have been in the cells. I swear on his life he didn't say anything rude to her and I would ground him forever if it were the case.

You weren't there, honey, and I don't believe your little offspring is anything other than an evil little git. There's so many tales of this sort of hooliganism that it makes your protestations about his innocence suspect.

Anyway, here's the postmistress, looking like a Monty Python Pepperpot:

This sort of corporate callousness is on the increase, along with its official cousin, bureaucratic callousness. I think sometimes that people need to take a deep breath and remember that they're dealing with fellow humans.

The plan approved by Congress calls for both to be made mostly of steel, which will drastically reduce their cost. No idea what this will do to their ability to feed through machines such as snack and soda machines (nickles, obviously, not pennies).

Apparently the newest thing in mortuary science involves dissolving human bodies with lye, which results in a liquid that can be poured down a drain, and a small amount of powdered remains, that can be buried/saved in urns.

Which is sort of what happened in the classic Star Trek episode By Any Other Name, in which aliens capture the Enterprise and reduce most of the crew into powdery dodecahedrons:

There's no doubt at all that Hillary would leap at the VP job if offered. Would she give the ticket Cheney-line "gravitas?" She'd pretty much guarantee a lock on New York for the Democrats in November.

The downside is her hunger for the top spot herself, which will lead many to think that she'll be hoping for something to happen to Obama, so she can take the Lyndon Johnson role as an unpopular and corrupt successor to a popular and charismatic president. The worst of her enemies will mutter darkly about Vincent Foster and wonder if she'll somehow do the job herself, or have flunkies do it.

You'll notice I'm not mentioning a horrible word beginng with "a." Frankly, I'd rather not have government bots crawl this post and send word to the S*ecret S*ervice that I need looking at.

Of course, all of that is moot if John McCain wins the presidency, which is my preferred outcome.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Have you seen it? It's got to be around somewhere. In the bilges, maybe, or in the compartment where the Sea Bats are found. Maybe someone smuggled it off the ship and sold it at the local surplus store. Check the heads and the geedunk shop! Maybe we should offer a reward: LOST: ONE US NAVY ETHOS, DESCRIPTION: BELL-BOTTOMED TROUSERS, SUIT OF NAVY BLUE, THREE TATTOOS, TWO HASHMARKS AND ONE SWINGING DICK!

Various government agencies are getting "guidance" about how to refer to Islamofascist terrorism:

WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedin, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism.

Instead, in two documents circulated last month by the National Counter-Terrorism Center, the multiagency center charged with strategic coordination of the U.S. war on terrorism, officials are urged to use terms like violent extremists, totalitarian and death cult to characterize al-Qaida and other terror groups.

"Avoid labeling everything 'Muslim.' It reinforces the 'U.S. vs. Islam' framework that al-Qaida promotes," reads "Words that Work and Words that Don't: A Guide for Counter-Terrorism Communication," produced last month by the center.

Instead of calling terror groups Muslim or Islamic, the guide suggests using words like totalitarian, terrorist or violent extremist -- "widely understood terms that define our enemies appropriately and simultaneously deny them any level of legitimacy."

By employing the language the extremists use about themselves, the guide warns, officials can inadvertently help legitimize them in the eyes of Muslims.

"Never use the terms 'jihadist' or 'mujahedin' … to describe the terrorists," instructs the guide. "A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterization in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means 'striving in the path of God' and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies Jihadis and their movement a global Jihad unintentionally legitimizes their actions."

The guide also bans the use of the word caliphate -- the pan-national Islamic state -- to describe al-Qaida's goal. The term "has positive connotations for Muslims," says the guide, adding, "The best description of what (al-Qaida) really want to create is a 'global totalitarian state.'"

Can't you just hear Orwell's cynical laughter emanating from his grave?

It appears that Boris is going to try and emulate Rudy Giuliani's success in cleaning up New York City via cracking down on small crimes first, hoping that big crime will follow. If you're not willing to build more jail cells to house problem criminals, however, it won't work.

RIVERDALE, Utah (AP) -- The police chief who shot himself in the ankle was waving a loaded pistol and being careless, according to two students who were attending his class to qualify for a concealed-weapons permit. "We were told the gun is the chief's personal sidearm, but it looked to me like he didn't know anything about the gun," Lewis Walker said.

Bart Ulm, another student seeking certification to carry a concealed weapon, said he was surprised Chief Dave Hansen was using a loaded gun to show how it worked.

"Right then, I was very leery, because there's no need to have live ammo in a gun in the class. But I figured he's the chief, so he must know what he's doing," Ulm told the Standard-Examiner of Ogden.

Hansen held the Glock 40 under a table to disassemble it when a bullet fired, Walker said.

The chief cried, "I'm hit," and fell over. Students who were screaming "Officer down!" were urged to call 911.

Walker said he didn't have confidence in the investigation.

"I think Riverdale police are just trying to keep this quiet and act like the chief is a hero. But if you ask me, he's really stupid," Walker said. "His state certification to teach concealed-weapons classes should be taken away from him. This was totally gross negligence."

Ulm said there was a moment of levity during the emergency.

He said an officer at the scene joked that "instead of shooting himself, he should have used the Taser."

Disturbing pictures of someone who was reasonably attractive at one time.

If you read biographies of Keith Richards, you'll discover an endless parade of people like this, all trying to emulate Keith's indestructible debauched lifestyle. Some have died: most famously, country musician Gram Parsons. Keith has seen it happen plenty of times, and even warned Amy in print that it was happening to her, but the victims always seem oblivious.

Ray Lee Correll, 27, of Iron Station was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury. He was being held without bond in the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center.

About Me

What I'm Reading

JL Curtis: Gray Man - - Partners

Hitchens

The MSM

A newsroom comprised entirely of leftists/liberals is no more capable of ideological objectivity than an all-white newsroom would be of racial objectivity, or an all-male newsroom of gender objectivity.

FlickR

Captain Louis Renault

"Round Up the Usual Suspects."

The Drawn Cutlass Philosophy

Be as decent as you can. Don't believe without evidence. Treat things divine with marked respect, and don't have anything to do with them. Do not trust humanity without collateral security, it will play you some scurvy trick. Remember that it hurts no one to be treated as an enemy entitled to respect until he prove himself a friend worthy of affection. Cultivate a taste for distasteful truths. And, finally, most important of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.

Ambrose Bierce

The Foe

When I am free to walk the streets of Mecca or Medina as the agnostic I am and receive nothing but curious glances, I will believe Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.

Sign On. You Know You Want To.

A Few Words From Some Founding Fathers

Jeff Cooper's Rules of Gun Safety

All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.

Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)

Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.

Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.

Bob's Addendum To Cooper's Rules

A Gun is not a Toy. Don't Play With It.

Bob's Theory of Hush Puppies

Bob's Theory of Hush Puppies: The best hush puppies are oblong shaped, rather like dog turds. The worst ones are spherical, like balls. The spherical ones are usually made from the recipe on a pre-packaged box of hush puppy mix.

Restaurant Ratings

My restaurant ratings, mostly intended for BBQ restaurants, will be on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. Unlike most reviewers, I don't intend to play games with the rating scale by introducing fractions such as "2 and 1/2" or "4 and 3/4," I've always considered that stupid and a signal that the reviewer is trying to avoid making an honest 1-5 judgment.

Here is the breakdown of the ratings:

1 out of 5: waste of time, crap, unable to finish eating; apathy by staff/ownership

2 out of 5: edible, but no effort to impress; staff/management going through motions; desultory.

3 out of 5: average; reasonably good food, moderate effort by staff/management

On Self-Reliance

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."